Mountain Pointe's Scott Kingery has been one of the better hitters, especially for a shortstop, in Division I this season. The Pride needs him to continue swinging a hot bat as the regular season winds down.

Mountain Pointe's Scott Kingery has been one of the better hitters, especially for a shortstop, in Division I this season. The Pride needs him to continue swinging a hot bat as the regular season winds down.

The Kingery boys know the game of baseball almost as well as they know each other.

Considering they are identical twins, who are adept at turning twin killings, it is clear the instincts required to excel in the game are embedded in their genes.

There is a creamy-peanut-butter smoothness to their movements on the diamond that has been developed over countless of hours of playing the middle infield together.

Scott at short; Sam at second.

It’s been that way almost from Day 1, dating back to the Ahwatukee Little League days.

“Even at that level they understood the small parts of the game,” Mountain Pointe coach Brandon Buck said. “I remember watching and thinking they just get it. To see those guys grow up and understand the game the way they do has been awesome.”

Now, with less than a month left in their high school careers, depending on how well the Pride fares in the postseason, they face the reality of playing on different teams next season.

When they were sophomores Scott started on varsity and Sam was on the junior varsity before making his way up to the varsity by the end of the year as a starter so it won’t be the first time they are on different teams.

But it could be the first time they are in separate states.

“It is almost definitely going to happen,” Sam said. “Scott is tearing the cover off the ball, getting Division I (interest from colleges) and I have junior colleges looking at me.

“So it is going to happen, but it might be good to kind of get out and do our own thing.”

Until then they will cherish the games they have together with Mountain Pointe and summer ball.

“We have always been there for each other and we don’t even have to talk when balls come up the middle,” Scott said. “We just know what the other is going to do.”

As solid of a season as Sam is having, Scott has been the difference maker in the Mountain Pointe lineup.

Last year, he was the spark plug at the top of the lineup with surprising power. Now, he is the team’s No. 3 hitter and leads the team in just about every offensive stat possible.

“The great thing about Scotty, especially with the new bats, is that he is going to have more pop than they think,” Buck said. “To follow up last year, it has been great.

“It’s a situation where he hits in front of Joey (Curletta) and they see that big guy on deck and they want to challenge the little guy and more often than not, he takes advantage of it.”

Through the team’s first 23 games, Scott was batting .520 with 78 total bases (11 doubles, two triples, eight home runs) with 31 runs scored and 32 RBIs.

“I’m seeing the ball really well right now,” Scott said. “When I get it going the rest of the team starts hitting, too. I just try to have a good at-bat every time I go up there.”

It has been a nice follow up to his junior year when he hit .495 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs and the Division I schools have noticed.

After committing to Central Arizona Community College before the season started, he has been contacted — but not offered — by Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Illinois State.

Scott, who was 23 for 23 in career stolen base attempts before this week’s action, is energized by the fact that he just might get that chance to go DI.

“I didn’t know if it was possible after last year (and not getting much attention),” he said. “It just shows if you keep going harder and play as hard as you can everyday you can get some opportunities.

“I wasn’t quite sure it was going to happen but after the first one (Illinois State) I knew if I kept playing well something might come together.”

Sam, who has raised his average about 25 points from last year to .379, has had a very good senior year as well with 30 runs, 10 doubles, a triple, a home run, 14 RBIs and going 10 for 10 in stolen bases.

“He puts together great at-bats and rarely gives one away,” Buck said. “He doesn’t have the pop his brother does, but he doesn’t get blown away in the box, either.”

It’s their style of play that has been the impetus behind Mountain Pointe’s late season push toward earning a first-round bye in the postseason.

“They just have something different about them,” Buck said. “The way they play is what leads us. They play hard, they get after it, they are running and they use their skills. That’s what everyone else picks up on and keeps us going a lot of times.”

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